Washakie County courthouse phone system needs updated

WORLAND — Washakie County commissioners are moving forward with a plan to update the phone system in the Washakie County Courthouse, particularly with the phones in the Washakie County Dispatch Center.

The current system is causing a bit of a headache for the sheriff’s office, where the dispatch center is housed, according to Washakie County Sheriff Steve Rakness.

In some cases, dispatchers receive 911 calls, but are unaware that they are emergency calls until they speak with the person on the other end of the line, but the calls are still going through.

“It doesn’t alert you that it’s 911,” Rakness said.

In other cases, when law enforcement personnel call about cases, caller ID reflects that the call is coming from the county clerk’s office instead of law enforcement.

“There’s a ghost in the machine somewhere. I don’t know what’s happening,” Rakness said, adding, “The bottom line is … the technology in the system is not compatible; we need to upgrade it.”

The current phones were installed in 2007.

Because the current company, Gillette-based Golden West, has also been reluctant to come to Worland and fix the issues, the commission is hoping to find a company closer to Worland, or one that will at least travel and be onsite for repairs.

Washakie County Clerk Mary Grace Strauch told the commission that she’d invited an official from Golden West to the meeting, but the official refused to attend the meeting.

“I asked them twice to come to this meeting but all I got was ‘we can help you over the phone.’ I even told them we could pay to have someone to travel to the meeting,” Strauch said.

Before the commission can begin accepting bids for the new project, a request for a proposal (RFP) must be completed.

The commission will seek a company to analyze the technological needs of the courthouse and dispatch center after which it will begin accepting bids.